Protective Father
by broadwaypants
Summary: Skimbleshanks and Rumpleteazer have a short conversation during Tugger's song. It explores their relationship as well as how they each view Tugger... to some extent.


_Disclaimer: CATS does not belong to me, nor do any characters mentioned. Thanks TSE!!_

* * *

By the time I came out, I had already missed most of the fun.

He was already dancing in the middle of the clearing with Bombalurina, being watched by all the other cats. The other queens were watching attentively, entranced by his dancing. And I have to admit, one look and I was too.

Because Rum Tum Tugger is probably the coolest cat of them all.

I perched on the car trunk, my head bobbing in time to the up-beat song. It was a couple seconds later when I noticed just who was sitting next to me.

It was Skimbleshanks, or, more specifically, my father.

I knew he did not approve of Tugger's antics and would probably disapprove if I went down to join the other queens as they flocked around him. My dad gave me a stern look as he met my eyes, and I scooted closer to him.

"Isn't Tug cool?" I asked, knowing full well what answer I was going to get.

Sure enough, Dad rolled his eyes and made a little 'harrumph' noise in his throat.

"I don't understand why everyone approves of his actions," he said slowly, his eyes now following Tugger as he and Bombalurina danced together. I turned my gaze back onto them just in time to see Rum Tum Tugger drop Bomba to the ground.

"Why would he do that?" Dad wondered aloud. "That's just so disrespectful, and - oh, look now, all the others are happy."

This was true. The other queens looked more than happy to see Bombalurina, one of the strongest queens, dropped to the ground. Although I found it a bit funny, I wasn't about to tell Dad that, so I said, quietly, "I do sort of feel bad for her."

"As you should!" Skimbleshanks nodded enthusiastically.

"But can I go down there and join in the fun?"

"What?" There was an abrupt change in his tone. "Why would you want to do that? So you can praise Tugger for acting like a jerk?"

"Oh, come on, Dad, it's all in good fun," I shrugged. "Don't try to tell me you never did anything like this when you were my age." As I looked sideways at him, I noticed the fur on Dad's back prickle.

"Your mother wouldn't want you to," he said, not looking at me.

"Because she was never head-over-heels for anyone like Tugger at one point, right…" Dad's fur was straight up now. Maybe I had gone a bit too far…

"I don't want you to do anything you'll regret later," Dad turned to me and put his paw over mine. "I don't want you to embarrass yourself."

"Oh, come on!" I hated the note of a whine that had crept into my voice. "I really want to! Look, all my friends are down there!" I pointed to Etcetera and Electra, who were probably the most entranced by Tugger.

"If all your friends decided to pick a fight with Macavity, would you do it too?"

"Da-ad," I sighed. "Come on, I'm not stupid. I just want to have fun. Why do you never let me do anything fun?"

"I do," Dad insisted, laying a paw firmly on top of mine. "This is just not the type of thing I want my daughter to do."

"You're overreacting again," I rolled my eyes. "You think Tugger's going to rub off on all of us and turn us into bad cats, don't you?" I took his silence as a yes, and continued. "You wouldn't hesitate for a second if it was Mistoffelees out there! Come on, Dad, you had fun when you were younger! Why can't I?"

Dad turned to me with a half-smile on his face.

"I swear you got all your stubbornness from your mother," he shook his head, chuckling.

"No, I got it from you," I shot back, sticking out my tongue at him. He opened his mouth as if to argue, but then closed it, shrugging in agreement.

"Maybe that's true. Now I wish the only thing you'd gotten from me was your stripes." He tickled me on one of them as he said this. I giggled, swatting his arm away playfully.

"Too late."

"Okay, you can go."

"What?" I looked up at him, sure I had heard wrong. "I can go down there with the others?"

"Sure," Dad held up his paws in defeat. "I can see when I'm fighting a losing battle. Go have some fun," then, as an afterthought, he added, "But not too much fun." He gestured for me to go, and I slid off the car trunk.

As I joined the others, I could feel Dad's eyes following me. I knew that no matter what I said he would always disapprove of Rum Tum Tugger, but maybe he was finally realizing that he had to give me some freedom.

As Tugger's song drew to a close, I backed away from him a little bit, letting some of the other queens crowd around him. As he started singing in a ridiculously high falsetto, I couldn't help but snicker a little.

And when I looked back up at the trunk, I saw Dad was too.

* * *

_This is me paying too much attention to the background while watching CATS... again. I wrote this one really quickly, but I rushed through it on purpose because any conversation that takes place between Teazer and Skimble happens over the course of practically fifteen seconds. The story's too long already, even though it's the shortest CATS fic I've ever written._

_Anyway, watch the background during _Rum Tum Tugger_, and in addition to seeing the cats on the car trunk change between cuts, you'll see Skimble and Teazer looking like probably the cutest father and daughter ever. :)_


End file.
